Aneta Svetieva (1944-) is a Macedonian artist, sculptor and ethnologist who lives and works in Skopje. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade, later gained a doctorate in ethnology and became known for work often rooted in clay, memory, folklore and Macedonian cultural traditions. I’m not sure what to note about this artwork from 1983, but it was certainly noticeable when I was walking around the museum. A wonderfully expressive head, wide eyes, an anxious mouth and a look that suggests that the figure has decided that the modern world is broadly unsatisfactory.I rather liked it…..
I thought that staying on a boat in the city centre of Skopje looked exciting and since I’m easily pleased, that’s what I opted for. It looked impressive from the outside and it’s permanently moored there which is reassuring as I would have wondered where I was if they had repositioned my accommodation.
The reception area was a bit opulent, this felt like somewhere Richard would stay, although he’d want to be in the VIP area away from ordinary people. There was a friendly welcome from the receptionist and it all seemed suitably relaxed and informal.
All rather lovely.
Meandering down the corridors and it made me forget that I was staying on a boat in a landlocked country.
The room and I was pleased to see that I had a view over the Vardar River. It was sufficiently spacious with the en suite being reasonably large and there was a desk and chair. Most importantly, there was air conditioning which was essential as I might not have mentioned this, but it was too hot in Skopje. But, of course, I don’t want my preferred operating temperature being the major narrative of this blog.
I wasn’t tempted by any of it, but there was a mini-bar in the room.
The upstairs dining area. There was no movement evident from the water, this boat has been securely moored and so there was no risk of getting seasick.
Some of the breakfast selection, which was included in the room rate.
And some more.
In addition to the cold items, there was also some cooked hot options as well.
I opted for the bacon and eggs. That dessert on the left hand side was rather lovely, I had another one of those…..
Anyway, I thought that this was all very agreeable, the room rate was more than I’d usually pay at around £60, but it was something a little different and it was very central. And although ‘hotel boat in Skopje’ hadn’t been part of my life planning until a few days ago, I could get used to going to sleep whilst listening to a river thundering by.
As my two loyal blog readers might have noticed, I’m in Skopje (well, I’m not now, I’m actually in Pret at London Luton Airport and it’s 03:50 in the morning) and so I couldn’t be at this bar billiards game. I’d note that writing this in an airport terminal with no sleep might add some bleak authenticity to arrangements….
But I was not concerned, Luke is a very competent vice-captain and I took the view that he’d likely run things with greater efficiency than me anyway. A win-win. Anyway, that means that these are Luke’s photos and so the commentary will be a little less rude than usual.
Someone had this. I approve as I like to see proper match preparation, especially when it involves a sensible refreshment strategy.
There’s something shifty going on here, a birthday cake for one of their team, I think that there’s a plan to make us feel guilty about beating someone on their birthday. Emotional manipulation and I’m wondering whether we should try that in a few future games. It actually got worse, it transpired that they claimed they had two birthdays. But, we took them on trust and we decided to throw the singles so that they could win and have a nice birthday party. But we decided we’d try hard in the doubles games. We are perhaps the most charitable team in the league.
Looks like a nice cake though. I am prepared to overlook quite a lot of sporting misconduct when sponge and icing are involved.
Terri treated herself to some Rolos, which were very deserved given that she was the only player (on our team obviously, loads of their team had winning singles games) who won her singles game.
The half time snacks. Very nice and look at those delicious Flumps. There is something deeply reassuring about a league where adults can gather around a bar billiards table and still recognise that a marshmallow-based snack has a role to play in elite sport.
Look at those doubles’ scores! Some impressive playing I hear, well done to everyone involved in getting those scores. And thanks to Luke the Lion for stepping in, he’s quite good really.
Well done to the Disasterfarians, I heard that they were a great team with loads of enthusiasm. Indeed, too much bloody enthusiasm. But happy birthday to Davide and Robin (Smith and Bones) on deploying the birthday strategy with such a devastating effect. And I’ll be back for the next match. I wrote that sounding positive, but it reads more like a threat…..
The Boatmen of Thessaloniki, or Gemidžii, might initially sound like the RNLI or something, but they were a small group of young Macedonian anarchist revolutionaries who carried out a series of bombings in Thessaloniki in 1903, when the city was still under Ottoman control. Their targets included banks, ships, railways and other symbols of Ottoman power, with the intention of forcing international attention onto the Macedonian question. It was neither gentle nor subtle, but they are now remembered as visionary revolutionaries, and I suppose handing out pamphlets politely outside a railway station would probably not have had quite the same geopolitical impact.
This monument, near to the Stone Bridge, was unveiled in July 2010 and shows the group in a suitably heroic and restless pose. The figures are shown with bags, books and purposeful expressions, making the whole arrangement feel less like a quiet memorial and more like a revolutionary team photograph in bronze. It’s hardly understated, but then there are tens of these huge sculptures around the city centre, so this needed to have the same importance to avoid it looking apologetic……
This is the Memorial House of Mother Teresa and it’s in Skopje because this is where she was born in 1910, when the city was still part of the Ottoman Empire. She was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu and spent her early life here before leaving as a young woman to join the Sisters of Loreto. The memorial stands close to the site of the church where she was baptised, linking it to her childhood and religious beginnings. The church fell down in the 1963 earthquake but it has since been replaced by a more modern building, on which more in a later post.
As for the design of this building, it was meant to represent a typical residential house, although it all looks to me a little out of place. There’s an odd circular staircase to get to the museum and I’m entirely sure why that couldn’t have been on the ground floor, although they’ve made the gift shop the priority and I suspect that’s the actual reason.
This is the small museum which is free of charge to enter and which is meant to commemorate Mother Teresa’s life.
Other than for copies of numerous documents (they were marked as copies to be fair, but it would have been nice to have a few original documents from somewhere), I can’t note that there’s a great deal actually here. I understand that her finger was sent by the Pope to reside in the chapel here, although that’s not entirely what I wanted from a museum.
A photo of the young Mother Teresa from 1926.
And a handy biography of Mother Teresa, but I’m not sure that I learned a great deal about her work from this museum set-up. I’m also a little unsure of the whole Mother Teresa story as I have a great deal of sympathy towards the late Christopher Hitchens and he effectively labelled her as something of a fraud. It appears that as often things are much more complex than that, but she did appear to believe in redemptive suffering which isn’t perhaps entirely ideal when operating hospices and hospitals.
Anyway, it was an interesting way to spend a few minutes and it’s well reviewed with a large number of people suggesting that they found it inspirational, and who am I to deny religious fervous?
After an hour spent hiking around a fortress, more on which later, I decided that I’d have a traditional Macedonian dish of tacos and beer at the local Mexican restaurant. Well, perhaps not entirely traditional, unless there is a little-known chapter of Balkan culinary history that I have yet to uncover. I remain open to evidence though if that means trying more food.
The main menu with a broad selection of dishes. My usual Mexican dish of fajitas was only listed on the menu as being for two people and I didn’t want to appear greedy by ordering that. Although I did privately wonder why they supplied five tortillas if it was for two people.
And the drinks menu. The decor was slightly polished and urban, with everything feeling clean and organised.
Guacamole and the local Skopsko lager to start with, a beer that was clean, crisp and refreshing in this extreme heat. I’m not sure that there was a great deal of subtlety to the beer, but sometimes just something cold is sufficient.
And the main of grilled chicken tacos with a Paulaner Weissbier, one of German’s better beer styles in my humble opinion. The chicken was tender, the portion size was generous and there was a depth of flavour to the whole arrangement.
I would have done with being even closer to the air conditioning, but I eventually down in what I considered to be dangerously high temperatures and would define as a hostile operating environment for me. But, away from temperature based comments, the server was helpful and efficient, with the prices being reasonable for what appears to be quite an on-trend restaurant. The crowd seemed to be generally younger and there were locals and tourists all in the mix, with the atmosphere feeling suitably laid-back and welcoming.
This is a roof tile, but not just any roof tile, this is from the 1873 railway station that was built in Skopje. It was demolished in 1937 to make way for the new central railway station, although that’s now mostly fallen down due to the earthquake in 1963. During the demolition of the city’s first railway station, it was suggested that two tiles and two bricks were taken as some sort of memory of Skopje’s early railway history. One of them is displayed here and I like that things such as this survive, it’s a little survivor of the arrival of the railways into the city.
This is what the city’s first railway station looked like, opened in 1873 when the Ottomans opened the line from Skopje to Thessaloniki in Greece. I’m not sure that the First Balkan War between 1912 and 1913 is much referenced in the history taught in UK schools (which seems to mostly be Tudors to trenches with a few mentions of steam engines, but there we go), but this is when the Ottoman Empire lose most of their European lands, include the city of Skopje.
There seem to be a lot of these firebugs around Skopje, giving the initial appearance (to me at least) of ladybirds but they’re not closely related although these firebugs have apparently started to make their way into the UK (when I say these firebugs, I mean the general species, not these actual ones which seemed quite happy on their Skopje pavement). The Latin name is Pyrrhocoris apterus, I hadn’t realised that pyrrhos meant flame, so the English translation is the ‘flame coloured bug which is wingless’. I’ve also discovered that ladybirds are beetles and firebugs are bugs although I’m not sure how I’m going to translate that new knowledge into the wider world but I’ll try and find the appropriate social occasion.
A few years ago, a restaurant on the main square of any city, Macedonia Square in this case, would have had a reasonable chance of being something of a tourist trap. Fortunately, social media and online reviews have made that nearly impossible, and as this tempting little number advertised craft beer and was positively reviewed, that was lunch sorted.
I was offered the chance to sit outside, but I didn’t want that stress and anyway, there’s a tree inside so that is like the same. Just with fewer insects and less bright sunshine.
I ordered the tasting board and I must admit to becoming a little muddled up, but I think that they were all brewed by the Donkey by Temov Brewery. One the server said was a pilsner, but it didn’t taste of a pilsner, one seemed to be an APA and another an IPA, but that didn’t match the beer options on Untappd. Anyway, they were very lovely and that’s going to be the limit of my beer analysis on this occasion.
The basic burger seemed to me to be the most suitable option in the heat and it met my expectations in terms of the taste, temperature and presentation. The tomato in the burger might not be visible in the photo but that packed some taste, much better than the tasteless little numbers so often sold in UK supermarkets.
The service was attentive and polite, with the air conditioning being on point and definitely delighting me. With extreme temperatures outside of 31°C (88°F), I very much needed that. The whole arrangement cost £11 for the four beers and the burger which all felt entirely reasonable. The highlights for me were the beer, the tomato and the air conditioning, which might not be the most decadent trinity of items, but they were very welcome on a hot day in North Macedonia.
Skopje’s Old Bazaar is one of the oldest and largest marketplaces in the Balkans, with trading activity recorded in the area from at least the twelfth century. It developed most strongly under Ottoman rule, when Skopje became an important commercial centre and the bazaar filled with mosques, inns, shops and hammams. It’s been a bit bruised and dented by the 1555 earthquake, the 1689 fire and 1963 earthquake, but it’s all still there. I’m not sure that it felt entirely historic when walking around, but it was heavily reconstructed after the 1963 earthquake and I’ll meander around some more of it today. Anyway, some photos….
